The Who - Legacy and Influence

Legacy and Influence

The Who are one of the most influential rock groups of the 1960s and 1970s, influencing artists from Led Zeppelin to The Clash. Bono of U2 said, "More than any other band, The Who are our role models." Brian May of Queen said, "They were my inspiration." Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips said, "I already believed in rock & roll, but seeing The Who really made me feel it. I knew I had to become a musician after that." Geddy Lee of Rush said, "They were really influential on our band in a big way." Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder said, "The one thing that disgusts me about The Who is the way they smashed through every door in the uncharted hallway of rock 'n' roll without leaving much more than some debris for the rest of us to lay claim to."

The Who's Mod genesis inspired Mod revival bands such as The Jam, as well as later bands of the Britpop wave in the mid-1990s, such as Blur and Oasis. The band has also been called "The Godfathers of Punk" due to their loud, aggressive approach to rock and the attitude evinced in songs like "My Generation". Many protopunk and punk rock bands from the MC5 to The Stooges to the Ramones to Green Day, point to The Who as influence.

The group has been credited with originating the "rock opera" and it made one of the first notable concept albums.

In 1967 Townshend coined the term "power pop" to describe The Who's sixties singles. Andy Summers of The Police lauded Townshend by saying "He more or less invented the power chord, and you can hear a sort of pre-Zeppelin thing in the Who's Sixties work. So much of this stuff came from him." Alice Cooper claimed that Moon was "the best drummer has ever heard in life". Noel Gallagher called Moon "the Jimi Hendrix of the drum kit". Rolling Stone magazine said in its "100 Greatest Singers" list that Daltrey "had an uncanny ability to adapt to whatever character songwriter Pete Townshend came up with". Similarly, Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips said "You don't realize how great a singer Roger Daltrey is until you try to do it yourself". The guiding lights of the seventies power pop movement, from the Raspberries to Cheap Trick, take inspiration from The Who. The Who's influence can also be seen in early incorporation of synthesisers, with Who's Next featuring the instrument prominently.

The Who's surviving members, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, were given Kennedy Center Honors for their enduring influence on popular culture. The band had an impact on fashion from their earliest days with their embrace of pop art and their groundbreaking use of the now common Union Jack for clothing. Their contributions to rock iconography include the power chord, windmill strum, the Marshall Stack and the guitar smash.

Renowned for their prowess as a live band due to their energetic, tight, loud performances, their 1970 album, Live at Leeds, is thought by many critics to be the best live rock album of all time. A Rolling Stone readers' poll ranked it the best live album ever.

All three versions of the American forensic drama CSI (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY) feature songs written and performed by The Who as theme songs, "Who Are You", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley" respectively. Throughout the years, many of their hit singles were also featured in other popular TV series like The Simpsons, House M.D., Two And A Half Men, Glee, Top Gear and My Name Is Earl. Rock-orientated movies like The School Of Rock and Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny had many references to the band and featured songs from them, along with other notable ones like Apollo 13, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle which only featured songs. A few video games have featured songs from The Who, like "Eminence Front" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, "The Seeker" in Grand Theft Auto IV and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, "Won't Get Fooled Again" in Rock Band, "Pinball Wizard" in Rock Band 2 and "I Can See For Miles" in Rock Band 3. With a DLC for Rock Band 3, twelve additional The Who tracks have been added to the game.

A number of songs by The Who, more specifically "I Can't Explain", "Substitute", "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Baba O'Riley", "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", have been covered by various artists like Richard Thompson, The Litter, Tina Turner, Ocean Colour Scene, David Bowie, The Flaming Lips, Pearl Jam, Blur, Sheryl Crow, Limp Bizkit, Les Fleur de Lys, The Jam, Tenacious D, Styx, Scorpions, Smashing Pumpkins, Heart, Paul Weller, Green Day, Oasis, Iron Maiden, Elton John, Rush, Sex Pistols, Alice Cooper, The Ramones, Count Five, Generation X, Great White, Marillion, Graham Parker, Rockfour, Stereophonics, The Brown Derbies, Tommy Keene, Van Halen, Kaiser Chiefs, Rod Stewart, McFly, The New Seekers, Transsylvania Phoenix, the Glee cast and many others. More notably, Tenacious D are known for covering songs from Tommy in a medley style during every live show since their 2006 tour. However, the only commercially successful covers are by Elton John and Van Halen, with "Pinball Wizard" peaking at No.7 in the UK and "Won't Get Fooled Again" reaching No.1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart respectively.

The Who made a cameo appearance in The Simpsons's episode A Tale of Two Springfields. The episode also featured cultural references to the band and their works including songs such as "Magic Bus", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "The Seeker" and the compilation album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy.

Due to their major influence in rock music, The Who spawned a number of tribute bands like The Wholigans, Who's Who, The Whoo, The Who Show and many others over the years; tribute bands which still play at various festivals and concerts nowadays.